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Left: This photo is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0. Right: Yesica Prado\/San Francisco Public Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The destruction of large swaths of the Fillmore District under the guise of redevelopment is a frequently-cited harm in San Francisco\u2019s draft reparations plan. Lee\u2019s Liquor Store was one of many businesses torn down under a federally funded urban renewal program. Today, a Goodwill retail store occupies the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 03.10.2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0|\u00a0by\u00a0\u00a0MADISON ALVARADO<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0sfpublicpress.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ideas for reparations in San Francisco go far beyond a proposed $5 million payment to each qualifying Black resident \u2014 the option that captured national media attention and inspired a handwringing frenzy. The Board of Supervisors will review and discuss dozens of policy recommendations when it meets March 14<\/a> to weigh in on the city\u2019s draft reparations plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposals are non-binding, with the committee noting in the plan that \u201cit will be up to the community to create the momentum to ultimately get these recommendations officially codified into San Francisco law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee will submit a final version to the Board of Supervisors in June, but a flurry of headlines, including ones from CNN<\/a>, Fox News<\/a> and the Weekend Update<\/a> segment on \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d latched onto the $5 million figure when the committee released a draft of its reparations plan in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several supervisors have already weighed in<\/a> on the possibility of such payments. Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the Western Addition, Tenderloin, Haight Ashbury and Japantown, and Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill and Vistacion Valley, said cash payments were possible. Two others \u2014 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who represents the Outer Sunset, and Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission, Portola and Bernal Heights \u2014 said they were likely infeasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan outlines a range of possible action under four umbrellas: economic empowerment, education, health and policy. It also delves into the lengthy historical record of harms committed against Black people in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond seeking compensation for the atrocities of slavery, segregation and racial terror, the plan calls for corrective action for harm caused by housing policies, particularly the displacement of thousands of African Americans from the mid- to late-20th century under a program known as urban renewal<\/a>. The plan identifies other policies that divested Black communities of their rights, homes and ability to build generational wealth, including racist lending practices known as redlining (which de facto prohibited African Americans from obtaining loans to purchase homes), racially restrictive covenants that prevented Black people from renting or owning certain housing, race-based zoning laws that stopped them from living in certain neighborhoods, and segregated public housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan includes solutions addressing homelessness and housing affordability. Today, Black San Franciscans represent 38% of the unhoused population even though they represent only 5.3% of residents. They also have the lowest rate of homeownership citywide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/12967416\/embed?auto=1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Flourish chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA hope of the African American Reparations Advisory Committee is that this document would serve as an actionable tool for communities for advocacy, and really a road map for lawmakers,\u201d said San Francisco Human Rights Commission Economic Rights Director Brittni Chicuata, who also manages the reparations advisory committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost of the folks I\u2019ve talked to have only focused on the $5 million recommendation,\u201d Walton told The San Francisco Standard<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m trying to get everyone to focus on the fact that the task force is taking this work seriously and came together with recommendations that we need to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan\u2019s current objective regarding housing reads: \u201cEnsure that all members of the affected community have access to affordable, quality housing options at all income levels,\u201d and focuses on living situations that include home ownership, rentals on the private market, subsidized rentals and public housing. To help tackle ongoing disparities and rectify past harms, the plan offers these housing-related suggestions for those qualifying for reparations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some suggestions in the reparations plan may be difficult to implement given legal prohibition of racial discrimination in housing opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think we need to be more bold and take more risks and really be intentional in how we address inequities around race,\u201d Walton said in a December interview about the city\u2019s eight-year housing plan. Citing ongoing displacement of people of color and disparities in access to affordable housing, Walton said, \u201cthere are going to have to be some law changes that allow us to spell out and call out race, that allow us to call out ethnicity, and allow us to carve out for populations that have suffered the most injustice here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Domestic reparations are not a new idea: The first recorded reparations in the United States were paid in 1783 to a woman named Belinda Sutton<\/a>, who was formerly enslaved. In the past decade<\/a>, the concept of reparations has garnered more mainstream attention, most recently bolstered in the wake of the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a recent pilot reparations program in Evanston, Ill.<\/a>, the city gave 16 residents $25,000 each for home repairs and other property costs. The program is part of a broader resolution to give $10 million in reparations to Black people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n California approved the creation of a statewide Reparations Task Force in September 2020 and is considering cash payments<\/a> among other policies<\/a>. Meanwhile, representatives have introduced legislation<\/a> to probe similar questions at the national level without success<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a kind of sweet spot, and it\u2019s in a moment of truth and reconciliation,\u201d Chicuata said of the current mood regarding reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which meets monthly, formed in December 2020 under legislation introduced earlier in the year by Supervisor Walton. The committee\u2019s 15 members come with a broad range of experiences. If you live in public housing, you can apply to fill a vacant seat with instructions here<\/a>. The group plans to submit its final reparations plan to the Board of Supervisors in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To tune into the March 14 Board of Supervisors meeting, click\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. You can dial (415) 655-0001 and enter the meeting ID 2487 791 7160 ## to comment remotely. You may also attend in person at the Board of Supervisors Legislative Chamber in City Hall, which is Room 250 at San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Madison Alvarado is a reporter based in San Francisco who is interested in California’s housing crisis, environmental justice and structural inequities. In addition to her reporting on public housing and rent relief at the Public Press, she has covered issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, housing and city government for San Francisco news site Mission Local.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Left: This photo is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0. Right: Yesica Prado\/San Francisco Public Press The destruction of large swaths of the Fillmore District under the guise of redevelopment is a frequently-cited harm in San Francisco\u2019s draft reparations plan. Lee\u2019s Liquor Store was one of many businesses torn… Continue reading Housing action items<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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